Snapdish Uses Translation and Localisation to Go Global

Snapdish Uses Translation and Localisation to Go Global

The Japanese food photo sharing service Snapdish has recently illustrated the importance of translation and localization: the service has introduced in seven new languages to tap into new and promising markets. International Business Development Managers take note!

Snapdish allows users to post and share pictures of their food. Moreover, people can also add further information about their dish, for example its ingredients or the recipe. The service can be downloaded for iOS and Android and already has 700,000 downloads.

Snapdish was already available in English, Japanese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, and Koran, but is now also released in the Thai Indonesia, French, Spanish, Italian, German and Portuguese language.

70 per cent of all the service’s content is provided by Japanese users, which have received Snapdish with open arms. The company behind the service, Vuzz, is planning to expand to new markets and stabilise its position in Asia.

Releasing the service in new languages is one step towards this goal. Hidetaka Fukushima, international business development lead, explains the new tactic:

‘Although SnapDish has been popular in Asian countries such as Thailand, it was not available in the local language. We’ve also had some users in Europe and South America, mainly using the English version, [so]we’ve always felt the need to have the app available in these local languages.’

Fukushima also told TNW magazine in an interview that the new languages will go hand in hand with increased marketing in the targeted countries. Next to the introduction of new languages, Snapdish also released an application for the Amazon Kindle Fire. This is remarkable as the tablet is not very widespread on the Asian continent. Research has shown that the Kindle Fire might be the most popular Andoid tablet, but its users are mainly US-based. This might be a way for Snapdish to strengthen its position on the North- American market.

There are a number of other businesses that basically provide the same service as Snapdish, such as Evernote Food, Foodspotting and Burpple. However, Snapdish seems to be quite the player with 1.9 million uploaded photos and since the service was launched in May 2011. According to Fukushima, there are about 7,000 uploads every day and 30-40 per cent of Snapdish’s users are active monthly.

The number of languages in which the service is available probably has a lot to do with these impressing numbers. Clearly, in order to achieve global success, translation and localization are key.